Final six candidates for 2012 World Bioenergy Award

May 23, 2012 – The six final candidates to the World Bioenergy Award 2012 are chosen. One of them will be announced as the winner on May 29 at the opening session of World Bioenergy 2012 in Jönköping, Sweden. This is the second time that the World Bioenergy Award is presented.

“We can now present the six final candidates for the World Bioenergy Award 2012. They are entrepreneurs, researchers and government officials from three continents and represent complementary parts of the international bioenergy sector” says Jakob Hirsmark, product manager of World Bioenergy and member of the jury.

“We can see a fantastic development of bioenergy globally today. It is driven by climate and energy policies. But just as important are the actions and engagement of forerunners. With this prize we want to reward these inspired individuals” says Kent Nyström, president of World Bioenergy Association and member of the jury.

The aim of the World Bioenergy Award is to recognize an individual who has made a difference: a business leader, politician or researcher who in a crucial way has furthered the development of the bioenergy sector.

Here are some words from the nominees:

Mr. Al Costa, Spain

”We live on an increasingly interconnected planet, and for a country not to take advantage of the experience and technological achievements of others simply makes no sense.”

Mr. Aditya Handa, India

”Bioenergy has the capability to provide access to affordable clean energy solutions up to the last mile, protect and nurture the environment, integrate the bottom most layer of rural society into the country’s growth story by creating incomes and opportunities, and make nations energy self-reliant”

Mr. Timur Ivanov, Russia

” The Bioenergy sector will play a key role in the distributed energy development in Russia because it can provide the synergy of energy production and waste utilization. There is a huge potential in Russia for the use of the abundant forests”

Mr. Robert Parker, United Kingdom

”In the long term, we will likely see changes in land avaliability based on agricultural demand and needs, and in the choice of energy crops, which define the biomass yield levels that can be obtained on the available land”

Mr. Dilip Ranade, India

”I envisage a very large number of biogas plants as well as biomass gasifiers coming up in India and other Asian , African and Latin American countries owing to rich agricultural produce”

Mr. Harry Stokes, USA

”Since the global environment links us all and since half the world’s populatin living in energy poverty will jeopardize everybody, even those who have all the energy needs, it is within everybody’s interest to promote the use of biofuels in the developing world, not only for export but also for local use.”

About the World Bioenergy Association (WBA)

The World Bioenergy Asssociation has 20 current board members from 5 continents. They bring broad expertise and insights from Argentina, Austria, Australia, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, China, India, Japan, Kenya, Lithuania, Malaysia, USA, Sweden, Zambia. They are committed to bringing to reality the Action Plan of the WBA. For more about World Bioenergy Association, please see www.worldbioenergy.org